One of the overriding characteristics of Jesus was his willingness to connect with those he met on a very personal basis. But the reason that Jesus was so influential as a leader was his willingness to solve a problem in the life of every person he met.

His first problem he solved was for Peter. His first disciple he called to join him in his mission was a fisherman named Peter. Peter was having a really bad day at the office. He was not catching any fish, and for a fisherman that means no money and no food for the day. Jesus tells him to cast his net on the other side. The result: more fish than he could handle.

On another occasion Peter could not pay his taxes. Jesus told him to go catch a fish and a coin. There he would find a coin in its mouth, enough to pay his taxes.

Jesus and the disciples came upon a large group of people and Jesus stood atop the hill above Galilee. The people were very hungry. The disciples were asking how they could feed the people since they were miles from a town that had food.

Jesus told them to fee them themselves. That was a strange instruction from the disciple's perspective. They had no money to buy food for 5,000 people. They only found a boy with five loaves of bread and two fish. They brought it to Jesus. He prayed over the fish and loaves and the baskets began to multiply, enough to feed 5,000 people with leftovers.

When a man came to Jesus who was blind, Jesus put mud on his eyes and he was able to see after he washed the mud away.

The point of these stories is that Jesus did something that every leader should do to have greater influence - solve a problem. Sure, you may not be able to do the miracles Jesus did. But you can solve problems in your workplace or in the lives of people you know. You might give them an idea to make their life better. You might solve a business problem for your employer. You might provide a connection that would solve a problem for someone.

Culture does not care who solves their problem; they just want their problem solved. If you can be the catalyst to solve their problem, you will have greater influence in the life of that individual.

Several church communities across the nation are banning together to solve problems in their communities. One group of churches decided to have a citywide volunteer day to clean up the graffiti on their buildings in their city. Another group repaired and painted the public school buildings that were in disrepair. One group of business and church leaders went to their mayor and said, "What are the top 3 biggest problems in our city?" They began mobilizing business leaders and churches to begin tackling the problems. The result: the city leaders began to call upon these people to help them solve other problems.

Do you want to have more influence? Start solving problems. Then you will become the most popular person in town and be recognized as a leader known for serving others.

The Bible encourages us to understand the times we live in. In the Old Testament the tribe of Issachar understood the signs of the times. "…the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do…" (1 Chronicles 12:32).